Lance Morehouse with Sherwood Community Services

Lance Morehouse is the Executive Director of Sherwood Community Services, a non-profit in Lake Stevens that provides services to children and adults with disabilities in Snohomish County. Sherwood Community Services has been around for almost 60 years.

 

Lance moved to Lake Stevens about 6 years ago following his wife. Lance and his wife both had sons that had disabilities and caring for people with disabilities became a passion for them both.  Both of their sons have passed away, but Lance and his wife have love for their work because of the time that they were able to have with their children. This is the reason they do they work they do.

 

 The founder of Sherwood Community Services was Hazel Vernables. She had a daughter with a disability and was a public care nurse that worked with other families with developmental and intellectual disabilities.  They were looking for a way for their children to learn because children with disabilities were not required to have education.  8 families started Sherwood so that children could have education. 

 

The history of people with disabilities is sad. In Nazi Germany, people with disabilities were killed because they were believed to be inferior.  In Washington State, people with disabilities were not allowed in schools until 1972.  Children with disabilities were sent to state institutions as infants to be cared for and to be out of the public eye.  Now people do live in their communities, but people with disabilities are still viewed as second class citizens. 

 

Sherwood offers 3 programs:

 

infants and toddlers:

 

Early intervention goes to the home or where the child is ages birth to 3 in Snohomish County and on Camano Island. They use a parent coaching model including the family in the therapy and integrating therapy into daily family activities. 30% of kids in the program meet their developmental milestones before the age of 3 allowing them not to be in special education when they enter schools. Sherwood provides services to many Spanish speaking families and families in rural areas. They are looking to double the amount of kids that are served in the next 3 years because of working with foster children and the many people that moving into the rural areas because of cost of living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vocational Services:

Sherwood provides adults with disabilities the opportunity to have jobs.  They meet with individuals to help develop resumes, walk through interviews and find jobs that fit that person.  They can provide on the job training for as long as people need and work in partnerships with employers to help the employer serve the individual to the best of their ability. When businesses talk to businesses and share the benefits of considering employees with disabilities they know they have committed workers.  Vocational Services are provided in Snohomish, Skagit and Island Counties. The goal is to have an 80% employment rate for people that walk through the doors of Sherwood in the next 5 years.  If this happens they will have the highest employment rate of any of the agencies that provide like services.  Sherwood is also looking to double the amount of employers that they are working with.

 

Assistive Technology:

Sherwood is currently the only agency that is providing these services in Washington State.  They provide ways for people with disabilities in communication to be able to have assistive technology.  These devices help people to be more independent in their lives. Sherwood's goal is to provide 7000 pieces of assistive technology in the next 5 years.  They started with 89 devices statewide. 

 

Sherwood has committed and compassionate employees that love and care for their people.  They are committed to having the best and brightest staff in the field. In order to do this, they have to be able to pay the wages needed to support their staff. They are bale to do this through through donations and contracts to provide services.  To recruit the best and brightest, partners are needed that believe in the mission of Sherwood Community Services.